Sinking through time (#Wattys2014)

Chapter 32 - Sinking together

Lucy had been awake for hours. She still had mixed feelings about what she and John would be attempting in less than an hour. After she had spoken to John last night she had done a Google search on the Winnie the Pooh suits and was glad she had. Her mind was put at ease after reading about what sort of pressures and depths the suits could take. What she was worried about now were the other things.

Lucy felt they were rushing into the trip a little too fast. They hadn’t planned what to take, what to wear or how long they were going. It also made her uneasy that she was going without her parents’ permission. She felt sorry for John’s dad too. After having dinner with them the other night and hearing how much Sidney would have loved to have met his ancestors, Lucy’s guilt at not including him was great. She was kicking herself that she hadn’t asked Graham if they could borrow three suits. Everything would have been better then. Lucy’s parents might have given permission for her to go because an adult would be with them, neither of them would have to sneak off at the crack of dawn and John’s dad would have been happy to be included in the adventure.

After having second and third thoughts, Lucy decided to go anyway. They already had the suits and she wasn’t sure they’d get the opportunity to use them again. She also wasn’t entirely one hundred percent sure that her parents would let her go, even with adult supervision. They had almost lost her the last time, and even though she and John had addressed the oxygen issue and were better prepared, there were so many uncertainties that Lucy could imagine her parents deciding against any more sinking travels for her.

 Lucy dragged herself out of bed. It was cold this morning, despite it being summer, and a shiver ran down Lucy’s spine. ‘Maybe it’s because I’m getting up earlier than usual and haven’t felt the temperature at this time of morning’, she thought to herself.

Before Lucy went to bed last night, she had prepared what she would need this morning and had stored it away in her bedroom so she wouldn’t have to sneak around the house and risk waking anyone up.

Lucy had stored her items in a satchel bag that she thought would blend in with 1877 fashion, including some modern conveniences like paracetamol, toothbrush and toothpaste, sanitary pads, a length of fishing line and a couple of hooks, a Swiss army knife and a roll of toilet paper. She’d also packed her small camping stove and a couple of packets of beef jerky, some protein bars, a few bottles of water, some of her mum’s meal replacement shakes, some matches and a small first aid kit. Lucy didn’t want to overload herself with too much stuff but she needed to make sure that if she and John landed elsewhere, they could make it for a few days on their own.  

Lucy had thought the biggest problem to overcome was what she would wear. She knew from her past experience that her blue dress would label her a trollop, so she’d decided to dress more demurely. She’d realized at that point that she couldn’t make her own dress and the shops were closed for the night so she couldn’t buy one either. In the end she’d decided that her mum’s clothes would be more appropriate than anything she owned, so she’d waited until her mum was in the shower and her dad was outside and she’d slipped into her parents’ room to raid their wardrobe.

Lucy had ended up choosing a long grey skirt and green blouse. She’d also taken her mum’s old 70’s white knitted shawl. She’d thought that she’d fit in better wearing something like that rather than a cardigan.

At that point Lucy had wondered if John had thought about how his clothes could make or break their 1877 cover, so she’d decided to raid her father’s side of the wardrobe too. She had ended up picking out a pair of black cotton trousers and a white dress shirt that was sort of hippie-ish looking. Lucy had known that it wasn’t ideal but it was probably better than what John would show up in. At that point Lucy had imagined what John would be wearing in the morning and had pictured John rocking up to 1877 in a pair of Ripcurl boardies and a Godzilla t-shirt.